An 89-year-old man was fatally injured after being struck by a hit and run vehicle.
El Centro Police responded to Lotus and Ross Avenues at about 7:10 p.m. Monday evening after receiving reports of a vehicle versus pedestrian accident. According to witnesses, after striking the victim, the vehicle fled northbound on Lotus Avenue. Witnesses described the vehicle as a gray Nissan SUV, possibly a Rogue. Witnesses in the area also provided investigating officers surveillance video and cell phone photographs of the suspect vehicle. The victim, 89-year-0ld Joe Puga of El Centro, was transported to El Centro Regional Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries.
At about 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning the California Highway Patrol notified El Centro Police that they had located the suspect vehicle, a gray-colored Nissan Rogue, abandoned in a rural area of the county. ECPD officers were able to locate the vehicles driver, 25-year-old Joey Keck of El Centro. After Keck was interviewed, he was booked at Imperial County Jail on charges of Hit and Run Driving Resulting in Death or Serious Injury to Another Person.